A New Tale from the Shadowhunter Academy

10. Discovering

The three boys turned around and saw Cara towering behind them with her arms crossed. Max and Alex slightly squirmed under her authoritative gaze, but Rafe countered provocatively: "I could ask you the same question."

Cara shrugged: "Snoring roommate. Your turn."

"Sneaking out roommate."

Cara nodded: "I'm in."

Max smirked in Alex's direction and said: "See? That's the reaction I had expected of you."

Rafe didn't seem happy, but then, when did he ever?

----

Cara was a great addition to their team, Max figured. She had her broadsword with her so if they had to fight their way out, she would have been very useful as no one else had weapons on them. Not that Max expected resistance against them leaving the Academy. Except perhaps from a teacher and it was rather unlikely that they could have avoided detention by beheading them.

Once outside, Rafe led them in direction of the lake. After they had walked perhaps two kilometers he suddenly stopped and Max nearly crashed into him.

"What's the matter?" Alex whispered.

"Shh!" Rafe hissed before pointing between two gigantic oaks. In the shadows crafted by the pale moonlight crouched a massive figure over the carcass of a stag. The figure looked like a gigantic scorpion but its skin was covered in green, slimy scales. The creature's mandibles were slowly shredding the poor stag to shreds before gulping the bloody pieces.

Having no idea what to do now, Max turned to Rafe. He seemed as calm and collected as ever despite the stern expression on his face. Rafe looked back at Max and then to their two companions to gesture them to retreat silently. With her sword half drawn already Cara shook her head in protest but Rafe shooed her back firmly. Max waited for Alex to follow them. To be honest, he had expected Alex to be the first to turn and run, but his roommate stood frozen still, mouth ajar, gaping at the creature with wide eyes. Max had to grab him by the wrist and drag Alex with him to make him move.

At a safe distance the four of them gathered to hold a war council.

"W-what the h-hell w-was that?" Alex asked his voice shaking.

"A Ravener demon," Rafe replied.

"What!" Alex exclaimed in horror.

"How could it get pass the wards?" Max asked the obvious question but before Rafe could answer Cara interjected: "More important: how can we get rid of it?"

Rafe shot them a disapproving glance before answering both questions: "Firstly: Someone must have summoned it within the wards. Secondly, it must be either killed or banished."

Alex had finally gotten rid of his immobility but only to start hopping from one foot to the other: "Then we should alarm Professor Fell or Miss Wrayburn, they will know how to deal with it!"

Max thought this a very reasonable plan though he would have loved to demonstrate his abilities in demon hunting. He was trained by Jace Herondale after all! He should be able to cope with a little Ravener!

To Max's surprise Rafe denied Alex's suggestion by shaking his head: "We can't risk to involve anyone else. Just think of it: we're out here, just the four of us. Among us is a warlock. To raise demons is practically part of a warlock's job description. Everyone will suspect Max to be one who did it. And only his best friends and his brother will testify that it was not him. I don't know how you rate it, but if I were Dean Penhallow, I wouldn't be convinced of his innocence."

Alex threw in: "But Nik's also out there. You saw him sneaking out."

"Can you prove that I saw him? Because I cannot."